It is known that consumers desire to use cosmetic and personal care compositions that enhance the appearance of keratin fibers such as hair by changing the color of the hair and/or by imparting various properties to hair such as shine and conditioning. The process of changing the color of hair can involve either depositing an artificial color onto the hair which provides a different shade or color to the hair or lifting the color of the hair, such as for example, from a dark brown shade to a medium brown or a light brown shade.
Conventional hair coloring products include permanent hair dyeing products, also known as oxidation dyeing, which use the combination of compositions containing oxidative dye precursors, also known as primary intermediates or oxidation bases, and oxidizing products containing oxidizing agents such as peroxide and persulfate compounds, under alkaline pH conditions in the vast majority of cases. In general, the oxidation dye precursors comprise oxidation bases chosen from ortho- or para-phenylenediamines, ortho- or para-aminophenols, and heterocyclic compounds. These oxidation bases are colorless or weakly colored compounds, which, when combined with oxidizing products, can give access to colored species via a process of oxidative condensation. The shades obtained with these oxidation bases may often be varied by combining them with at least one coupler chosen, for example, from aromatic meta-diamines, meta-aminophenols, meta-diphenols, and certain heterocyclic compounds, such as indole compounds. The variety of molecules used as oxidation bases and couplers can allow a wide range of colors to be obtained.
Oxidative coloring compositions typically contain aqueous ammonia as an alkalizing agent and for activating the oxidizing agent. These alkalizing agents also cause the hair shaft to swell, thus allowing the small oxidative dye molecules to penetrate the cuticle and cortex before the oxidation condensation process is completed. The resulting larger-sized colored complexes from the oxidative reaction are then trapped inside the hair fiber, thereby permanently altering the color of the hair. However, the use of ammonia may affect the user, not only because of the undesirable odor of ammonia, but because it may also pose greater risks of intolerance, for instance, irritation of the scalp and stinging.
The option of replacing all or at least some of the aqueous ammonia with at least one other standard alkalizing agent frequently does not lead to compositions that are as efficient as those based on aqueous ammonia, for example since these alkalizing agents may not afford sufficient lightening of pigmented fibers in the presence of an oxidizing agent.
It is also known practice to dye keratin fibers by direct dyeing. The process conventionally used in direct dyeing comprises applying to the keratin fibers direct dyes, which are colored and coloring molecules that have affinity for the fibers, leaving the dyes to act in order to allow the colored molecules to penetrate, by diffusion, into the hair, and then rinsing the fibers.
In contrast with oxidation dye compositions, direct dye compositions may be used without the obligatory presence of an oxidizing agent. In addition, these direct dyeing operations may be performed repeatedly without degrading the keratin fiber.
It is known practice, for example, to use direct dyes of the nitrobenzene, anthraquinone, nitropyridine, azo, xanthene, acridine, azine, and triarylmethane dyes. Oxidative dye compounds and oxidizing agents as described above may optionally be used in direct dyeing compositions.
The leave-on time of a direct dye composition conventionally ranges from 15 to 45 minutes, depending on the nature of the fiber (sensitized or non-sensitized) and the nature of the dye used. A great deal of research has been conducted on reducing the leave-on time of dye compositions without, however, increasing the concentration of the constituents, while at the same time maintaining a good level of dyeing, i.e., good dyeing power and good fastness of the color with respect to external agents and over time.
Thus, it would be useful to provide direct dye compositions that are improved in terms of efficacy and speed of reaction and/or of penetration of the dye into the fiber, while at the same time maintaining good harmlessness, good resistance, and good selectivity, the latter resulting from the difference in color uptake between different parts of a hair or of a head of hair.
In order to improve the performance of such hair coloring compositions, the use of new and additional ingredients and novel combinations of ingredients are continuously sought; however, the choice of ingredients could pose difficulties insofar as they must improve the dyeing/lifting capability of the composition without being detrimental to other properties of the composition such as its application, rheology or viscosity properties, stability and/or resulting into more disadvantages such as increased damage or a less healthy look to the hair.
It is also important to provide hair coloring compositions with various types of consistency, such that the compositions can be provided in the form of a liquid emulsion, such as a liquid-lotion, liquid-gel, liquid-cream, or a cream emulsion, such as a thick cream or gel-cream, or a foam or mousse wherein the liquid emulsion form has a thinner consistency than the cream emulsion form and is typically packaged in a bottle. The liquid emulsion form is generally employed when the entire head of hair is to be colored or when only one color is desired since the dye composition spreads easily, allowing for greater coverage while the cream emulsion form can be employed for dyeing the entire head of hair and for highlighting or lightening only certain sections of the hair.
Thus, the objective of the present invention is to obtain novel compositions for oxidatively dyeing the hair. Another objective of the invention is to obtain hair coloring compositions that have a unique, non-drip consistency or rheology and yet spreads easily on the hair while imparting other advantages to the hair such as conditioning, a healthy appearance, shine and less damage to the hair.